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Saturday, May 11, 2013

Today Julie Lynn Hayes and M.A. Church are visiting. Hi ladies! I hear they're bringing some real characters with them, so without further ado, I'm turning things over to my guests...

Thanks so much for having us here today! Oh wait,
who are we, I can hear some of you ask? Let me back up a mo and start again.

I’m Julie Lynn Hayes, she’s M.A. Church, heretofore
to be known as Michelle. Just call me Julie. We’re here today to talk about our
first joint project, Be My Alien,
which will be released by Dreamspinner May 8th.

Let’s start at the beginning. I totally blame
Michelle for hooking me on aliens.

Michelle: *snort* I corrupted her, or so she says.

Julie: *laughs* That’s my story, and I’m sticking to
it. It wasn’t until I read your most excellent book, Nighttime Wishes, that I
first encountered your fixation on beings from other worlds, and… wait, hold on
a second. What are you two doing here?

Reed: Don’t blame me, I was just following Taz. He
said we needed to come here, and I guess he’s right. Look, you’re talking about
us. That’s a bit cheeky, don’t you think?

Julie: What? Cheeky? Hey, Reed, I was going to say
nice things, how does that make us cheeky? Michelle, a little help here?

Reed: Oh jeez Louise, that’s distracting… *clears
throat* Um, okay… we met… we met… oh yeah, it was almost Valentine’s Day. I was
working late ‘cause I didn’t have anything better to do. You know how it is
when you’re single and it’s been a while… that day means less than nothing.

Taz: It didn’t mean anything to me either.

Reed: Well, to be fair, you never heard of it ‘til
you got here.

Taz: Oh yeah, I guess that’s true.*squirms a bit on Reed’s lap* I’m just lucky
I was in the right place at the right time.

Reed: I think I’m the lucky one, babe. That’s what
they call karma.

Taz: Karma? What has this to do with driving?

Reed: *groans* Later, I’ll explain later. So anyway,
I had to meet a customer at the Empire State Building after work, and that’s
where I met Taz. He knocked me off my feet, literally.

Taz: What can I say, you caught my attention? My
night hadn’t been going very well. I had just been dumped, then I saw you. I
really didn’t mean to knock you down, you know.

Reed: Oh, I wasn’t complaining. I ended up on the
floor with an arm full of sexy male. *blush* Well, at the time I thought I had
an arm full of sexy male. Little did I know just what I was holding.

Taz: *giggle* You should’ve seen the look on your
face the first time my stripes showed up! I mean, you freaked out, but still,
for a second there… I don’t have the words!

Reed: *shakes head* It was probably the same kind of
shocked look I had when that tail of yours put in an appearance.

Taz: *rubs cheek against Reed’s jaw* That reminds
me, when are you going to let me—

Reed: Whoa now. Let’s not go there, babe. You give
that away, Julie and Michelle will both want to skin you. It’ll be a race to
see which one of them gets you.

Taz: Silly women. Neither one of them gets me. I’m
all yours… *licks his way up Reed’s neck*

Taz: Oh, that’s not bad. Those two earth women seem
to be able to put words together rather nicely, don’t they?

Reed: Better than me at times. Oh babe, you gotta
quit that, or I might…

Taz: I’m wearing those special—

Reed: Oh lord, from the shop? *groans* Oh yes, my
shop. I have my own business, I should mention that. A Touch of Class. Here in
New York. I mean there… I mean… Taz, please be careful, you’re right over my—

Taz: I know, Reed…I know… *silences him with a kiss*

Taz: Oh yes. We told
them how we met. Did we tell them about ourselves though?

Reed: What do you mean?

Taz: Well, I’m from the
planet Trygos, the most important planet in the Trygos galaxy, and only one of
two planets capable of sustaining life. The other planet is Haatmiess. When
Trygosheans put someone down, they say they’re like a Haatmiess, which is
considered a major insult. My full name is Fabrintazo, Taz for short. I’m about
5'11" in your earth measuresments, and I have a wiry, muscular build. My
hair is a mixture of red and orange and brown and it’s long and luxurious, and
reaches below my shoulders.

Reed: That’s very true.
He often twists it into a braid and lets it flow loose over his back. He’s very
acrobatic and he loves heights. Which scared the hell out of me at one point in
the book. Taz has cat green eyes and purrs when he's pleased. *smiles* I make
him purr often.

Taz: Yes, you do.
Reed’s full name is Reed Hatcher and he’s about my height and build. He
has very light brown hair that tends to bleach out in the warmer months and he
has the most beautiful hazel eyes. Oh! And he has this cute little
dimple in his cheek too. The one on his face, not the other one. Though
that’s cute, too.

Reed: *blushes* Babe,
too much information.

Taz: *grins* And he’s a
business owner, too. A very important man in his world.*nods head* And in his business, he has a
back room that sells very special things. I like the back room.

Reed: I actually have a
degree in elementary education, but I never taught. My parents moved to Florida
and I ended up here in New York.

Taz: Thank the stars
you did! *frowns* Should we tell them about Vorlod?

Reed: What’s to tell?
The bastard’s no longer here on Earth and can’t bother you anymore.

Taz: Well, he was the
reason I was here on Earth to begin with.

Reed: We should save
that story, though, don’t you think? Can’t spill all the beans, now can we?

Taz: *glances around
the floor* I don’t think we spilled anything.

Reed: *rolls his eyes*
You’re right, we didn’t. What was I thinking?

Taz: *eyes him
suspiciously* Are you having fun with me?

Reed: Not yet, babe,
but I intend to, I promise you.

Taz: *grins even
broader, stripes appearing on his neck* Then let’s go now and, how did you put
it, avoid the rush hour?

Reed: *tries not to
laugh* Close enough. *fastens their lips together, he rises, Taz clinging to
him, and they make their way from the room. *

*
* * *

Hope y’all enjoyed
meeting the characters from Be My Alien!

Author bio

M.A. Church

M.A. Church lives in the southern United
States and spent many years in the elementary education sector. She is married
to her high school sweetheart and they have two children. Her hobbies are
gardening, walking, attending flea markets, watching professional football,
racing, and spending time with her family on the lake.

But her most beloved hobby is reading.
From an early age, she can remember hunting for books at the library. Later
nonhuman and science fiction genres captured her attention and drew her into
the worlds the authors had created. But always at the back of her mind was the
thought that one day, when the kids were older and she had more time, she would
write a book.

By sheer chance she stumbled across a
gay male romance story on the web and was hooked. A new world opened up and she
fell in love. Thus the journey started. When not writing or researching, she
enjoys reading the latest erotic and mainstream romance novels.

was reading at the age of two and writing by the age of
nine and always wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Two marriages, five
children, and more than forty years later, that is still her dream. She blames
her younger daughters for introducing her to yaoi and the world of M/M love, a
world which has captured her imagination and her heart and fueled her writing
in ways she'd never dreamed of before. She especially loves stories of two men
finding true love and happiness in one another's arms and is a great believer
in the happily ever after.

She lives in St. Louis with her daughter Sarah and
two cats, loves books and movies, and hopes to be a world traveler some day.
She enjoys crafts, such as crocheting and cross stitch, knitting and
needlepoint and loves to cook. While working a temporary day job, she continues
to write her books and stories and reviews, which she posts in various places
on the internet. Her family thinks she is a bit off, but she doesn't mind.
Marching to the beat of one's own drummer is a good thing, after all.Her other published works can be found at
Dreamspinner Press, MuseitUp Publishing and No Boundaries Press, and coming
soon with both Extasy Books and Torquere Press. She has also begun to
self-publish and is an editor at MuseitUp.

Reed Hatcher’s life is work, work, work. He owns a successful men’s boutique in New York City, but a love life is out of the question—for many reasons. It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and business is brisk. On an unexpected visit to the Empire State Building, a sexy man literally falls into Reed’s lap. His name is Taz and he’s just been dumped by his date. One look and Reed is hooked. He offers to buy Taz some coffee and they leave together.

Reed is attracted to Taz and takes him home to his apartment. But Reed discovers there’s more to Taz than he realized—especially when Taz’s stripes begin to show. And he has a tail? Turns out Taz is not quite like Reed. In fact, he comes from another planet, far far away, and he’s only on Earth for a vacation.

Reed never believed in aliens before, but he’s facing one now, and dear God, what is he going to do? Just when he decides he loves Taz and together they can handle anything, the alien that dumped Taz decides he wants him back and steals him away.Can Reed live with the memory of what he almost had, and the love he found and lost? How can he ever face the moonlit skies again?

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall on top of you like that. You see, it was like this. I was pushed, and you just happened to be there and….” The stranger grinned at Reed. “And down we went.”

Reed shifted under the body lying so contentedly on top of him. Hell’s bells, the guy fit against him perfectly. From the feel of things, they were both close to the same height. Which also meant certain things were… aligned. “Oh yeah, I’m okay. Banged my head a little, but I’m fine.”

The stranger bit his bottom lip, his teeth worrying the tender skin. Reed debated slamming his head against the floor a few more times in the hopes of rattling his brain back to normal as the stranger rolled off him.

“I really am sorry.”

“No harm done.” Reed sat up and looked at the guy once again. Well, not much harm, anyway. His libido just had to pick now to perk up, didn’t it? But damn, this guy was sexy. Reed struggled to his feet and held his hand out to the man still on the floor, looking up at him. The guy took his hand and let Reed pull him up. “Name’s Reed. Are you okay?”

“Hi, Reed!” The guy hopped to his feet in a single, lithe movement, as if it was the most….world. “My name is Taz. Nice to meet you, and yes, I am.”

For a moment there was a flash in the guy’s eyes that belied his statement. “Good, that’s good. Glad to hear it. Well, I guess I’d better be going—”

Reed hesitated. There was something about the guy that pulled at him. When was the last time he’d felt that pull? Way too long ago. Taz was cute, sure. But there was this look of hurt. Dammit, Taz just looked so lost. Insane as it was, he wanted to make it all better.

Be My Alien with Julie Lynn Hayes and M.A. Church #CharacterInterview #Excerpt